HDMI to VGA

[Maikai.Guy]

With high hopes, I purchased HP's HDMI to VGA converter.
HP HDMI to VGA Display Adapter | HP? Official Store

Unfortunately, it seems the XOOM does not offer enough power to get this thing to work.

Anyone know of a powered converter that's not bigger than my XOOM? ;-)

 

[Maikai.Guy]

Hacked into device. Supplied external power for the converter circuit. Problem solved.

For anyone interested, this is what you do:

The two halves can be pried apart without damage to the plastic.

The power is an orange wire. The ground is obvious... two wires coming from the cable shielding connected to the opposite side of the board.

Clip the orange wire to disconnect power from the XOOM (you don't want to backfeed and harm your tablet).

Connect the orange wire to your new positive voltage (5V, by the way). Connect the ground of you new supply to the ground of the board.

I used a portable USB power supply. Grabbed an unused USB cable and cut off the end. There are only four wires and a shield. The red is power, the black is ground. If the colors are different, buzz out the lines (Look up the connector specs on the web).

Then I drilled a hole next to the existing cable, being careful not to damage the locking tabs of the case. Used a drill bit the same diameter as the USB cable. Put some heat shrink tubing on the cable as a strain relief. Snapped the halves back closed.

It looks like it was made that way. ;-)

Works great.

 

[jacobrid]

Don't know if it helps but I'm running my xoom with my projector which has a DVI input and it works fine with it. I bought a micro hdmi to hdmi cable and a hdmi to dvi adapter, I also tried a hdmi to dvi cable with a micro hdmi (M) to hdmi (F) adapter and both ways work great. If you want VGA then you can buy a hdmi to vga cable and use a micro (M) to hdmi (F) adapter. I bought all of it at a decent price off of Ebay.

 

[anon(167668)]

Don't know if it helps but I'm running my xoom with my projector which has a DVI input and it works fine with it. I bought a micro hdmi to hdmi cable and a hdmi to dvi adapter, I also tried a hdmi to dvi cable with a micro hdmi (M) to hdmi (F) adapter and both ways work great. If you want VGA then you can buy a hdmi to vga cable and use a micro (M) to hdmi (F) adapter. I bought all of it at a decent price off of Ebay.

HDMI to DVI is trivial because they're both digital signals (and they're electrically equivalent, but that's beside the point). The problem with HDMI to VGA is that VGA is an analog signal. You can't simply have a cable with VGA on one end and HDMI on the other; you need a signal converter which contains circuits to change the signal. HDMI to VGA cables are literally garbage if they don't have an active converter chip in them, and pretty much anyone that isn't ridiculously expensive does not.

 

[Maikai.Guy]

HDMI to DVI is trivial because they're both digital signals (and they're electrically equivalent, but that's beside the point). The problem with HDMI to VGA is that VGA is an analog signal. You can't simply have a cable with VGA on one end and HDMI on the other; you need a signal converter which contains circuits to change the signal. HDMI to VGA cables are literally garbage if they don't have an active converter chip in them, and pretty much anyone that isn't ridiculously expensive does not.

The cable I refer to was only $40. The only problem is the XOOM doesn't provide enough power for the converter circuit.

The mod to fix this is "bag of hammers" simple. I'd upload pics, but I seem to need to first upload them to a URL, which I'm too lazy to do. If someone really needed to see the pics, I'd do it.

I couldn't live with anything but VGA, because many of the places I visit, especially Asian facilities, don't have state-of-the-art projectors. But everyone has a VGA port. ;-)

 

[04redgto]

Can I ask why u need VGA? Curious

 

[tntdroid]

Can I ask why u need VGA? Curious

Last line in last post. Projectors

 

[anon(167668)]

The cable I refer to was only $40. The only problem is the XOOM doesn't provide enough power for the converter circuit.

Yeah I didn't mean that actual converter boxes that aren't expensive don't work, just cables because a low price means it doesn't actually convert the signal.

 

[Maikai.Guy]

Yeah I didn't mean that actual converter boxes that aren't expensive don't work, just cables because a low price means it doesn't actually convert the signal.

I understand you now. You're talking about dumb cables that simply pin-swap between physical port types. Yeah, more than a few of their descriptions are indeed misleading.

But on the actual converter front, this HP unit (along with the mod) is the cheapest I've see a real converter sell for. The others I've looked at sold for a couple of hundred dollars. And again, anyone able to trip on a rug can do the mod I described.

 

[derekw68]

I have just received this HDMI to vga converter ( Amazon.com: HDMI to Ypbpr Component RGB / VGA Converter: Electronics) and it works very good. I have tested it to a monitor and also to my projector. Just wanted to let everyone know that my Xoom is now complete!

 

[clafountaine]

Thank you! Appreciate the post!

 

[derekw68]

Was suprised at the quality also. I will try to post some pictures. I did a test tonight with projector and a power point with the new quick office and was very happy.

 

[markfjohnson]

How big is this HDMI to Ypbr Component RGB / VGA Converter? I am looking for something which will travel easily and not have more mass than the Xoom itself.

 

[derekw68]

5in by 3in by 1in

 

[Maikai.Guy]

How big is this HDMI to Ypbr Component RGB / VGA Converter? I am looking for something which will travel easily and not have more mass than the Xoom itself.

The HP converter, which I link to in my initial post, is really small. Smaller than the portable USB battery pack I use to power it. I travel for a living and need VGA. It works great and the mod is easy. Both combined (dongle and power pack) are less than half the size of the 5 inch converter... and since they are two pieces and small, they hide anywhere in your luggage or brief case.

 

[cloudman]

I Am trying to make the mod to the HP adapter. However when I opend the case there were two wires that could be describd as orange. One is thinner than the other and I think that is the correct wire. Can you describe the location of this wire on the board or better yet can you send a picture.

My email is [email address redacted by Mod]

Picture updated by MaiKai.Guy - Thanks

 

[rcorry]

You can also just use a HDMI voltage inserter/injector with the HP adapter....no drilling, soldering or voiding of the warranty. I paid like $15 for the one I picked up off Amazon. Just place it in-line between the Zoom and the HP and bingo, everything works just fine. (No bigger than a pass-through male to female connector with a 1x2.5 inch supply, very transportable).

 

[Maikai.Guy]

You can also just use a HDMI voltage inserter/injector with the HP adapter....no drilling, soldering or voiding of the warranty. I paid like $15 for the one I picked up off Amazon. Just place it in-line between the Zoom and the HP and bingo, everything works just fine. (No bigger than a pass-through male to female connector with a 1x2.5 inch supply, very transportable).

I looked at these originally, but I couldn't find one that was battery driven and although it's small, it's still nearly half the size of the HP connector. In fact, the adapter, along with it's power supply, is larger than the HP dongle.

With a USB mod, you can either use a very small USB battery power pack or a small USB wall wart. The old tiny one I have from my old iPhone is tiny.

Size and options... it's all about minimizing size and maximizing options. ;-)

 

[jcm357]

derekw68, does it need external AC power supply?

 

[Maikai.Guy]

derekw68, does it need external AC power supply?

No, but it needs external power. The XOOM does not send enough power down the HDMI cable to power the converter. This mod allows you to use a small portable USB charger for power or an AC wall wart. I have a portable USB power device, half the size of a deck of cards, which takes two AA batteries. The batteries provide at least several hours of projection time. I've never allowed them to run out, because I don't want to intentionally have a power hiccup during one of my presentations, so I change them after three presentations (average an hour each presentation).

One of these days I'll run the batteries dry to see how long they actually last. I image it is much longer than I think. This is only powering a couple of small ICs in the converter.